


Inoch no ki - Tree of life

by LadyMidnight07



Category: Naruto, Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protectiveness, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:00:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24460204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMidnight07/pseuds/LadyMidnight07
Summary: Chased deep into the forest, Naruto finds an old shrine. And within the shrine he finds something he wanted his whole life - he found a family...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. The meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I am using villians from PR series, but it does not mean the characters will have the same roles like in the series.  
> 

He had no idea how long he was running. His legs were heavy, lugs aching with each breath, head spinning from exhaustion. He wanted to take a break. He wanted to stop and have a small rest.

But he couldn´t afford it.

He had to run. He had to, or else his chasers would catch up. Just a few minutes ago they were hot on his heels and now he couldn´t afford to lose the lead he had on them.

He still couldn´t understand why they kept hurting him. He was just a five-year-old child! He never harmed anybody! So why did they keep tormenting him? Why did they keep throwing trash at him? Why did the hurt him whenever they could? And why… did they throw him out of the orphanage? He had nobody after all. No foster family wanted him. Nobody was kind enough to take him in.

He wanted to ask why more than once. But whenever he approached them, they either ran away or tried to hurt him more. Even asking the other kids was hopeless. The kids knew nothing and teased and hurt him too.

The only kind person from the village was Hokage-Jiji, who tried his best to help the little boy. But both him and the child knew that he could only do so much without the others interfering. And since the little boy cared for Hokage-Jiji and didn´t want to get him in trouble, he chose to deal with most of his problems alone.

The little boy was suddenly brought back from his musing when he bumped into something hard. He fell on his butt and looked up in surprise. His blue eyes then went wide.

The thing he bumped into was a large stone statue. Despite being clotted with plants he could figure out that the statue represented an animal. The animal was sitting on a tall stone platform, its head proudly raised, looking before itself. The boy first thought it was a wolf, but then he noticed the long ears and a big fluffy tail warped around its front legs.

“It is a fox,” the boy whispered in awe. He turned his head to the side and noticed another statue which looked exactly like the first one.

“What are they doing here?” the boy asked himself. Then he spotted the long stone stairs between the two statues, leading who knows where. How could he didn´t notice them before?

Hesitantly he took a few steps up the stairs before he heard some noises coming from the brushes. Thinking that the chasers caught up on him, panic took over and the little boy quickly ran all the way up the stairs. Once upside the boy paused to catch his breath and looked around, only to have his jaw drop.

He came to a shrine!

Behind the large stone gates, was beautiful, though a bit small, shrine. It looked really, really old especially since it was, just like the gates and the fox statues, clotted with plants that had grown freely, untamed for years.

But before he could take a closer look, he, again, heard some noises, coming from the bottom of the stairs. He quickly looked around, searching for some hiding place. He found none except the shrine, so he put his hands together in a quick prayer and shouted “Gomen'nasai, kami-sama!” before he ran to the shrine and went inside, quickly closing the doors behind himself.

Once inside he collapsed to the ground, relieved that he was safe. And it was only confirmed, when he no longer heard any noises coming from the outside. After a few minutes, which he used to calm himself down, he curiously looked around. He frowned at the dusty interior and spider webs all over it. However, he also noticed something in the centre of the shrine.

It was an old well.

An old stone well covered slightly in webs.

_Why did someone build a shrine over a well?_

Still frowning, the boy walked over to the well and took a look inside it. But he was too short to see anything. So carefully, he climbed on it and leaned a bit forward, while holding firmly into the stone wall.

_Rumble._

The noise caught him off-guard and he wasn´t able to react in time when the stone suddenly gave in from under his feet. He cried out in panic, but there was nothing he could do. He was falling and he knew he was done.

When his body hit the water surface and started to sink, he instinctively tried to swim up. He had been in the same situation before, but at least this time he wasn´t tied up. With his hands and legs free, he could trash around and kick, until his head broke through the water surface and took several breaths of sweet, sweet air.

Panting hard he looked around while trying to think about what to do… only to find out that he was no longer in the well.

There was much more water, which seemed to flow in one direction. It was probably a river, a very slow flowing and spacious river. The boy looked up and gasped. He expected to see stone walls leading to a narrow opening of the well, but instead, he found sky. Clear sky, but instead of a warm blue colour it was that of a deep red. A red so intense, the river mirroring it looked like a river of blood. Curiously the boy looked at the sun and laughed at the sight of the bright orb which was a soft pinkish colour.

“What a weird sun!” laughed the little boy as he started to swim towards the shore, which was covered in many, many black stones… only to yelp when something broke through the water surface right in front of him.

“Kid, how did you get here?” asked a very deep growling voice.

The boy looked at its owner and his blue eyes went wide. Right before him, standing on the water surface like it was nothing, was probably the scariest and at the same time the coolest looking person he ever saw. The man, guessing by the lack of boobs, was at least seven feet tall. His skin was black, covered by a strange blood-red exoskeleton, including his face. His face was strange – the boy could clearly see the man´s razor-sharp teeth and three pairs of pupil-less yellow eyes. The man was dressed in clothes similar to those of a samurai made of black and red fabric and armour, and he carried two swords, attached to his waist-band.

The young child was so dazed from the stranger´s looks that for a moment he forgot to swim. He quickly snapped out of it when he began to sink.

Quickly he tried to reverse his mistake, only to yelp when the stranger yanked him upward, using the fabric on the back of his shirt.

“I asked, how did you get here? You heard me?” asked the unknown man, as if he didn´t just save him from drowning.

The boy quickly composed himself, despite literally hanging from the other´s outstretched arm. “I got lost in the forest and found this strange shrine! I thought it was a good hiding spot so I went inside. And then… then I fell into the well there and here I am!” The boy tilted his head to the side. “What were you doing under the water, sir? And how come you are not wet?”

The stranger frowned. “A well you say? And one, that was inside an old shrine?”

“Yes! A really old one! With a lot of spider webs!” nodded the kid enthusiastically. “And you didn´t answer my questions!”

“Later runt. Now you are coming with me,” said the stranger and walked on the water to the shore, much to the young boy´s fascination.

“How can you walk like this? I never saw somebody who could walk on water,” asked/pondered the kid once the stranger put him down on the rocky ground.

“A simple old trick kid. Now follow me,” ordered the stranger and started to walk away.

The boy hesitated before he asked: “Um… what´s your name?”

The man stopped and looked back at him. “Why do you want to know?” He asked, annoyance clear in his voice

The kid crossed his arms on his chest and openly scowling at the other, he said: “Well, you are a total stranger and I´m told not to walk away nor talk with strangers, despite looking as cool as you. So if you tell me your name, you won´t be a stranger anymore!” he finished with a nod.

The man looked at the kid before a strange grin appeared on his face. “I like your guts, kiddo. My name is Xandred. And yours?”

“Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!” announced the boy with a fox-like grin.

“Well Naruto, now that we have the introductions behind us, come with me,” ordered Xandred and began to walk away, with the child walking right behind him. For a few minutes, they walked in silence, before the kid started: “Ne, Xandred-san?”

“What is it?”

“What are you? Are you a human or… demon?” the last word was said with a weird shaky voice, that caused Xandred to stop walking and look at him again. He was slightly taken aback by the tone and the downcast expression the child had now.

So while observing the kid, he answered: “While I do have demons serving me, I personally am not one. Some humans seek my aid even though I am not one like them too. I´m a god.”

“W-What?” asked Naruto in disbelief.

“You heard me, kid. I am Master Xandred, the god ruling over wars and battlefields, whose aid is sought out by demons and humans alike to bring them victory in fights and battles. The god paused and made a gesture towards their surroundings. “And this is the world I reside in, the Netherworld.”

He wasn´t really sure for what reasons he told all of this to the kid. Maybe to see how he would react – would he tremble and be afraid? Would he try to run away?

He certainly didn´t expect the kid to start jumping up and down while looking excitedly at him “That´s so cool! You must be super strong then! Even stronger than Hokage-Jiji and he is the strongest in the village! Do you know him? You said you aid people during wartime, so maybe you have met him! Did you train him? If so can you train me? I want to be strong so people stop being mean to me and to take over Konoha when Hokage-Jiji retires. So can you train me? Can you? Can you?!”

“Oi! Slow down, kid! First, I don´t know this “Hokage-Jiji” of yours. Second, I don´t “train” anybody, useless they did something to catch my attention. And third, what the hell did you mean “so people stop being mean to me”? Are you…” Xandred paused before his eyes narrowed, looking at the kid more closely. “Are you being abused by other people?”

The boy instantly stopped moving and looked down on the ground. For a moment Xandred wondered if it was a mistake to ask the last question. Then he barely heard as Naruto whispered: “They always hurt me… they threw me out and when they can get away with it, they call me demon… monster… I wanted to know why, but nobody tells me anything… They just cause me pain… adults and other kids in the village… They… they…” the boy trailed off and began to sob, the sound surprisingly silent from the upset child.

Xandred was once again taken aback and… unsure about how should he react. His first thought was how good it would feel to track down and kill the bastards that hurt the child. Some might be surprised, but while he might be the god of war, it didn´t automatically mean that he liked when the violence affected the children. And he openly despised people who went out of their way to hurt children… which looked like it was the chase of the current situation.

And he also couldn´t understand how somebody could call a kid like Naruto a demon. Because of the child´s blue eyes, tanned skin and blonde hair? No way, some people looked even more unnerving, like his servant Kisame. Because of the whisker marks on his cheeks? Xandred had to admit, they were actually rather cute, not scary.

Then why? Because of that strange aura that surrounded the boy… huh?

Xandred blinked with all of his six eyes. Why didn´t he notice it before? Then again, before now they were rather close to river Sanzu so maybe its water masked it.

Never mind, this certainly was something he couldn´t ignore. With the kid´s life, it would be just a matter of time, before somebody went too far and released it, killing many people in the process. While Xandred might not care about them, it might kill the kid, and that was something he didn´t like the idea of. Especially without knowing the type of danger he was in.

Oh well, there was only one thing to do about it.

Xandred knelt down before the sobbing kid and put a hand on his shoulder, instantly gaining the little one´s attention. The child looked at him with big teary blue eyes.

“Listen, child, there might be something I can do to give you an answer… but it won´t be nice. Do you want my help? Even if it might be unpleasant?” Xandred asked.

“But will it… help to make the villagers leave me alone?” the child wanted to know while wiping away his tears.

“It depends on what you will do with this knowledge. It might give you a way to help yourself… or possibly destroy you. It all depends on you. So…?”

The kid seemed to think about it before a determinate look found its way to his face. He looked at Xandred and nodded.

That was all the god needed so he reached out and put his hand on the boys head. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated.

Naruto seeing this followed his lead and too closed his eyes. A strange tingling sensation came from Xandred´s palm and slowly speared through his body… and suddenly he felt the water around his ankles.


	2. Inside the mind

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. What he saw surprised him – he was no longer in that strange place with red sky and pink sun. Instead, he was in a place that looked remarkably like a sewer.

A dark and very large sewer.

How did he get here?

And where exactly was this place?

“Well, isn´t this interesting,” commented Xandred from where he was standing next to the boy.

“Xandred-san, where are we?” asked the little one in confusion.

“We are inside your mind, kid. Specifically, in that part where not many can enter,” answered the war god.

“My mind?” repeated Naruto. Then he frowned and looked around again. “Why does my mind look like a sewer? It doesn´t make sense!”

“It is probably because it had to adjust to fit the prison located there.”

The kid blinked in surprise and looked back at him. “Prison?”

Xandred nodded and pointed somewhere to the side. Naruto followed the direction and he had to gasp at what he saw. There, standing several feet from them was a cage. A metallic cage so large that it seemed to have no end because neither its top nor sides were clearly visible to them. And right in front of them were huge gate-like doors that were held closed by… a piece of paper?

“Ne, Xandred-san, what is that cage doing here? And what is that paper for?” asked the blonde boy curiously.

“The cage is here to keep the prisoner from escaping or running freely inside your body. And the paper contains the seal that specifically serves to keep the cage from opening,” answered the god.

The boy nodded in understanding. “That makes sense I guess… Wait, prisoner?! What prison…” Naruto started but was cut off mid-sentence by a roar so loud that he had to cover his ears in pain.

When it quieted, a booming deep voice spoke: “WHO DARES TO ENTER MY LAIR?!”

The blonde child quickly hid behind Xandred´s legs and then cautiously peeked at the source of the voice. His eyes went wide as a gigantic orange fox appeared on the other side of the metal bars. Naruto had to admit, he had never seen something so beautiful and dangerous at the same time – the fox´s coat was a fiery-orange shade, the colour dancing in the dim light like real flames. Its slitted crimson eyes were staring right at them, its sharp teeth bared at them in a snarl.

It was a breath-taking sight.

“So, you are the demon sealed inside this boy, correct?” asked Xandred, looking completely unimpressed by the fox´s appearance.

The demon looked at the child behind him with a loud growl, before its gaze shifted back at the god. “Yes, I am. And I have to thank you for bringing me the brat so I could kill him!” the fox roared and immediately red tendrils of energy began to flood through the bars, aiming at Naruto.

But before they could reach him, Xandred unsheathed one of his swords and stabbed it into the water on the floor. In that instance, a strong pulse ran through space and the red energy disappeared without any trace.

“Now, that wasn´t nice, foxy,” chided Xandred as he pulled out his sword and re-sheathed it.

“Damn you! Who the hell do you think you are to stand between me and my revenge?!” the fox demon cried out in outrage.

Still looking unimpressed, the god answered in an absolute calm voice. “I´m Master Xandred.”

It became clear that the fox recognized the name. The moment he registered the name, its eyes went wide, its face reflecting the fright it must have felt. Faster than one could blink, it bowed until its head was touching the water´s surface, and spluttered out: “M-Master Xandred! I-I´m so sorry for my previous disrespect! I-If I knew it was you, I-I would never dare to do it! P-Please, forgive me!”

Seeing this, Naruto looked at the war god in awe. It amazed him how easily did his companion´s name earned his respect from… Suddenly something clicked and the boy´s eyes went wide as he realized what, or rather who was the big fox in the cage.

“You are the Kyuubi,” whispered the boy, gazing back at the still bowing fox.

Said animal nodded weakly.

“But I thought the Yondaime killed you… Everybody in the village says so,” stated a confused Naruto. Yet at the same time, everything made sense – the villagers´ hateful gazes… their painful words… the mobs… They must have known about the fox the whole time. They knew and took their anger towards it, out on him. And Hokage-jiji must have known too…

“And everybody calls you demon, yet you are a human child,” countered Xandred. “Besides the fox is a beast created from chakra. And one can´t kill chakra.”

The boy blinked, realizing his companion was right. But then why was the fox demon here? This place was his mind after all. Did that mean that he was the fox reborn… no. Xandred said that he was human. And a god must know the difference, right? It must be. Then he remembered the question Xandred asked once the fox showed up. He asked if it was sealed inside of him and the fox confirmed it. So the fox was inside of him. But… who put it here?

As if reading his thoughts, Xandred asked: “Who sealed you inside this boy?”

The fox hesitantly looked up at him and replied. “The kid´s own father – Namikaze Minato, did it on the day the kid was born, my lord.”

Naruto´s eyes went wide, while Xandred´s own narrowed. “I see. I can feel you aren´t whole – a big chunk of your power is missing. How did it happen?”

“Namikaze divided me upon sealing – my soul and barely a half tail´s worth of my chakra went to his son and most of my nine tails ended up in his daughter.”

“Daughter?!” yelped Naruto in shock. He had a sister? How?! As far as he knew he was an orphan! If he had a sister, where was she?!

“Where is the daughter?” asked the god, unknowingly putting a comforting hand on top of the boy´s head.

“I don´t know, my lord. I just know that she is alive, along with their mother. And that they are training together since I can feel my chakra draining from her,” answered Kyuubi.

“Together? They… they abandoned me?” whispered Naruto, still in shock. He could feel the tears pushing inside his eyes and he lowered his head to hide his face.

So he was left behind by his own kin, thought Xandred with no small amount of disgust. And here he thought humans can´t fall any lower in his opinion. Apparently, he was mistaken. This was just a new kind of low for them, as even his demonic servants took better care for their offspring. Hell, even he, the god of war who was many times accused of being a heartless, cruel bastard, would never do something like this. To think they would leave one of theirs behind, just because they apparently didn´t understand the difference between a kunai and the scroll it was sealed inside of… It sickened him to no end. And Hell knows, what finding out something like this would do to such a little child as was Naruto.

Either way, one thing was certain – the boy wasn´t returning to his village. Not after finding out about this thing and seeing what little glimpse of memories he caught before the fox appeared. If that was a mere fraction of what Naruto went through, then he was better off away from the village. But the question was – what should he do with the boy? Leave him in another village, where they didn´t know about the fox? That would only be a short-term solution – the child might slip up and someone would then snatch him up to turn him into a weapon. Turn him into one of his minions? Doable, but not the most ideal solution, since the kid was too young to be a fighter and he would feel guilty for forcing the child into becoming a killer.

However, there was one possibility that might be ideal for the little one. One that has been on his mind for a while, but never felt the need to carry it out. But before he voiced his idea, he wanted to hear something from the kid.

“What are you going to do now, Naruto?” he asked.

“Huh?” the child blinked, looking up at him with teary blue eyes.

“I gave you the answer to why the villagers hated you. Now I want to know – what are you going to do with this knowledge? Are you going to seek revenge? Are you going to submit to the mistreatment for some stupid guilt? Well? Answer me, Naruto-kun.”

The child stayed quiet, thinking over his questions before he a determined look appeared on his face. “I will do neither! I won´t want revenge for their stupidity, they are not worth it. But I won´t let them hurt me anymore for some misplaced hatred.”

“Is that so? Then what are you going to do?”

“I´m going to prove them wrong!” proclaimed the boy. “As you said, I´m not the fox and I´m not a demon! And I will show them just that. I will make them see it whereas they want to see it or not! And if they will still insist on this silly view… then they are not worth my loyalty or love.”

“And your mother and sister?” questioned the god.

“If they abandoned me… then they aren´t my family. If they could leave me just because of some stupid thing like carrying the fox, then they weren´t my family, to begin with. Hokage-jiji once told me that blood doesn´t make a family. So I don´t need them – I will find my family of people who accept me. Even with the fox, believe it!” replied Naruto, nodding at his own words.

For a moment Xandred remained quiet before a smirk appeared on his face. “And I can only stay – They loss is my gain.”

Both the child in front of him and the fox in the cage blinked in surprise and watched as the ward god knelt down in front of the blonde boy, so they were relatively on the same level. Naruto wanted to ask, but the other started talking so he stayed silent and listened. “If your mother decided she only wants one child, her problem not mine if it comes to bite her in the ass. If like you said, if she left you behind, then she wasn´t your mother. If she wants only your sister, because she thinks you don´t need her, with just the soul, then it is her mistake. Besides, your sister will sooner or later run out of the fox´s chakra, the more she uses it since she is little more than a walking chakra battery… But that´s not something I want to go into the details of, just yet.” He paused and cleared his throat, before looking into the boy´s eyes. “You see, for a while, I was thinking about having a child, but… well, I never found the right partner or a child I could accept as my own. But then you pop up – a child with a hard life, but an unbreakable will and strong determination. All you want in life is recognition, not revenge or anything that might lead you to the path of darkness. And that honestly impressed me.

Which is why I ask you – Uzumaki Naruto, do you want to become my son?”

The young boy´s eyes went wide. “W-What?” he barely whispered, not believing his ears.

“I asked if you want to become my child and heir. Become mine in blood and family. If you accept, then you will never be lonely like before and I guarantee you that I will train you, so you can shove what exactly we think about the people in your village,” nodded the god.

“Y-You mean it?” asked the boy, eyes watering and still unable to believe this was happening.

“I wouldn´t ask you this if I didn´t mean it,” confirmed Xandred. “So…” he didn´t finish, because the little boy launched himself forward and hugged the god as much as he could, while sobbing into his chest, whispering “thank you” over and over again.

“I will take that as a yes,” chuckled Xandred before he threw a glare at the fox who was watching them with some interest. It immediately froze. “We will finish this discussion later. Until then – behave!” And with that, he and the kid disappeared.

The fox waited for a few minutes before his fearful face turned into that of dark amusement. “Uzumaki Kushina… You are so screwed! You´re screwed and it is all your fault. I can´t wait to see what will become of the child, now that he has a proper parent in his life. I just can´t!”


End file.
